Conservation of vegetable materials



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Ia Drawing.

To all whomit may concern. Be it known that I, 'Inaono: a. citizen of the Republic of-Switzerland, residing at Zurich, Switzerland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Conservation of Vegetable Materials, for which I have filed an application in wltzerland October 20, 1919, 'atent No. 85815; and I do hereby declare the follow? ing to e a clear, full, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others sln'lled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same;

This invention relates to improvements in a process for the conservation of vegetable materials.

The object of the resent process is to conserve green juicy ding stuffs serving for feeding animals during winter time.

The process accordi to the present invention is carried out in the following manner:

The green sappy feedin ,lants to be conserved are first of all conductors of electricity by means of a suitable treatment (by cutting, crushing and the like) whereby the epidermis or the outer protective layers of the plants are damaged and the thus treated material is rammed into containers. Then an electric current of a voltage and frequenc existing in ordinary supply main is passe through the bulk of the material in said container. The walls of the container being made of insulating material, whereas the floor of'the container forms one electrode and the cover to be placed on the top of the material in the container ectin as the other electrode. The electric curren is caused to wot u on the materiel during such a period of e until the resistance which amounts at the be ing of the treatment to 186-140 ohms been almost totally overcome. If duri the treatment more feeding stuff has to filled into the container it 18 only to remove the cover and to replace it again later on after the stud has been filled in.

The current passing through the feeding stufi which has been msdo a conductor of electricity causes a very quicknse of the temperature insldo the feedm stnfl up to 50 C. and in consequence of nick rise of the temperature all organic li e of the micro-organisms is destroyed or at least weakened as the conditions of life are limited to a temperature of below C. and

s ecies-u on of Letters Patent. .A ne uuam m aural. sum I'm-7,811.-

avoided and a product is obtain Patented Jan. 24, 1992.

the cells of plants are destroyed as well. The whole mass within the container shrinks and the air contained in it is driven out.

With this mess the considerable losses of feeding s cc owing to the fennentation upon which the rise of the temperature depen s in the hitherto Im'own moses are in which the formation of free acid is excluded so that the product will remain in the stateof conservation for any length of time after the electric current has been switched off and after the product has cooled down. The moisture content of the material is without influence. upon the final product, there are no losses of nutritive in ients and the albumen remains intact. echnical residues a remains of fruits, slices of sugar-beet, distiller: wash, malt and the like can be he t sweet by means of the process awording o the present invention, since it is known that fermentation only obtains at the expense of sugar and starch and fermentation with this process does not take place so that these eeding'stulfs all remain conserved.

It is already known to conserve or nic substances for instance food stuff sue as meat, fruits, vegetables and the like by treat ing them with an electric current. In these known lprocesses a constant, weak, direct current ad to be used the container had to be a good conductor of electricity end a fill ing up of the interstices between the fruits and the like to be conserved had to be effected by a solution acting as electrolyte for instance a sugar solution. Further induotion currentsand high frequency currents have been used, but in consequence of the high temperatures produced in these p w an undesirable modification of the products resulted. These processes cannot advantageously used for conserving feeding stufi on a large scale. In none of the aforementioned p of an electriccurrefi;I of a tiensionand oil; frequency as is am y emp in supp mains and in which the products to be conserved are made a good conductor of heat so that they act themselves as an electrolyte.

I claim:

1. A process for the conservation of vegetable materials, com rising treating the material to be conserve so as to make it a condoctor of electricity by damaging the epi dermis of said material, and cousin an electric current to pass through the bu of the use has been madeloo material, which acts itself as an electrol for destroying all organic forms of therein;

2. A process for the conservation of vege- 5 table materials, com rising treating the ma.-

1 jQIil-l to be eonaerv "ail'ctor; of electri'eity b mechanicall da'ni aging the epidermis o saidmateri ramn'nng the'material thus treated into 'a. con- 50 as.to make it a container, and-causing an'eletric current of a voltageand a. fiquency that is used in ordina'ry s'up'plyf mains to'pass thro h the bulk of the naterial, which acts its'ei f as an electrolyte, for destroying all organic forms of life them. I e

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my. invention, Ihave edm name;

- THEODO SC IZEB 

